


Starman

by RitalinDisturbance



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 12:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12481604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RitalinDisturbance/pseuds/RitalinDisturbance
Summary: I stopped the car, tires screeching."Shit!" I cursed, getting out of the vehicle.A boy was crouching in front of the car. I ran to him."Oh my god, I am so sorry." I started checking him for wounds, but found nothing except a cut on his lip and a little bruise on his hip.He smiled."I'm okay. Don't worry about it."





	1. Telescope

**Author's Note:**

> K this is something kind of different, be ready for a really huge twist

Every time I looked up in the evening, I saw stars.

Astronomy, to me, was absolutely fascinating. All my childhood, I've spent on watching every Apollo landing, or Stephen hawking lecture that I could find.

Dad used to read bedtime stories to me every night, and they were always some sort of sci-fi adventures which I had loved so much.

No doubt in that, space was absolutely my most favorite thing in the world.

But I'm no little kid anymore. Today, actually, is my Seventeenth birthday. I didn't have a party or anything, I didn't have a lot of friends, but my family did give me the most amazing gift I could have ever asked for.

A telescope.

It was a white, short 6" Intes MN61, which had a great view quality, and I adored it.

My family, it turns out, all saved money to get me this thing. And I was so grateful, because what more could someone with such a fascination for astronomy ask for?

My grandma and my cousins came to congratulate me. There was champagne, and cheesecake, which wasn't a lot but it was enough.

I was happy. My family always made me happy.

"So how is grandpa doing, Nana?" I asked my grandmother, whilst sitting around the table eating birthday dinner with my relatives.

I was sitting in front of my grandma, next to me was my cousin George, and if front of him his sister Shelly. My mom and dad sat at the opposite ends of the table.

"Oh, you know…" She replied, putting some more salad into her bowl. "He doesn't eat because he's weak, and he's weak because he won't eat. I don't know what else to do with him."

Grandma didn't sound sad. She's used to it, and she's okay. She's always okay and she's always happy.

"Which reminds me, can you take him to his doctor's appointment tomorrow?" She added.

"Sure, no problem." I answered simply, biting on my broccoli. I always took care of grandpa when my Nana was too tired. It's just something I did, and I didn't see it as a drag or anything. I love my grandparents.

"You're such a good kid, dear." Grandma smiled, and I smiled back.

"Grandma, it's his birthday. Don't drop chores on him like that." My cousin, Shelly said with all seriousness.

"Oh, come on Shelly, it's fine. I like helping grandpa."

I was happy.

Shelly was one of my favorite people in the world, without a doubt. I enjoyed hanging out with her as a kid, and I still do.

She had dark brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. She's beautiful, but she never let any boys get close to her. Except for me, that is.

We didn't do much later that night. We ate the cake, drank the champagne and everyone went home.

Dad helped me hook the telescope up to the computer, and I went out to the lawn to test it.

"Oh, there you are…" I said, looking at the moon through my new device. "You're beautiful!" I muttered, zooming on and off.

I spent a good hour or two zooming on stars and planets whilst naming them and their moons, if they had any. Yeah, I was kind of weird but I sure as hell made the best out of my life.

My favorite thing was zooming on Jupiter, because you could see the satellites that orbited it. Well, you couldn't actually see any detail, they were just four light spots, but to me, it was as exciting as actually flying there.

After I've decided I'd done enough stargazing, I turned off the laptop and disconnected my new gift from it. I lay on the grass, looking at the stars. I smiled and closed my eyes.

My name is Frank.

And I love my life.


	2. Good Kid

"Did you take your prescriptions, Grandpa?"

"Yes."

"You're absolutely sure?" I raised my brow. He nodded. "Wait here, I'll be right back." I ran into my grandparents' house. We were already late.

"Haven't you driven off yet?" my grandma asked, taking a tray of cookies out of the oven.

"He says he's sure he took his prescriptions. I, on the other hand, am not. His bag was empty." I started looking around the living room.

"Well, where does he normally put them, Nana?" I asked grandma whilst running around the house, shuffling through stacks of paper.

"Sometimes he takes them to his office…" She said, distracted by the cookies she was putting into empty jars.

"Thanks." I ran up the stairs, and entered grandpa's office. They weren't on the desk.

I opened every drawer in the room, until I saw the prescriptions under a coffee mug on the little table near the loveseat.

"Told him not to drink coffee…" I murmured nervously while snatching the papers and running downstairs.

"Bye Nana!" I yelled, almost running out of the front door when she stopped me.

"Wait!" she shouted I turned back, catching my breath.

"What?" I asked. She smiled and handed me a cookie.

"Oh, you're the best!" I took a bite of the cookie, kissed her on the cheek and ran outside.

"Took them, eh?" I asked sarcastically, waving the papers at grandpa while getting into the car. He got into the seat beside me.

"I must've forgotten…" he murmured. I started the car, and started driving.

It wasn't a long drive to the clinic. It took about fifteen minutes, yet, it always seemed like more. We didn't talk a lot in the car.

Grandpa looked pale today. Sort of yellow-ish.

Five minutes into the ride, I decided to break the silence.

"George, have you been drinking coffee?" We stopped at the red light. I looked at him. He didn't say anything.

"Grandpa, we talked about this…" I said, disappointed. "You have to do what the doctor tells you, they know what's best for you better than you do."

"No one knows what's best for me except from me." Grandpa wasn't cheery today. He hasn't been cheery for a long time, actually. But today, he looked even more gloomy than usual.

I pressed the gas as the green light flashed.

My grandpa was old and very skinny, and he wasn't the exact description of healthy. His heart was very weak.

"Please. Just do what he tells you." I told him, simply, but I meant every word. Grandpa needs this help.

"Son." His croaky voice chimed in.

"What?"

Whenever he starts a conversation with this word, you just know it's not going to be something you want to hear about.

"How was your birthday?" he asked me sweetly.

"Nice, yeah, very nice. It was great." I was scared of where this conversation was heading.

"Did you like the telescope?" I turned right at the end of the lane. I didn't want to drive through the forest, it was creepy.

"Yeah, it's great. Thank you." I was speaking real quick. I was so uptight around my granddad, he just annoyed me sometimes. But I loved him, and everything I said, I said because I was worried about him.

"Seventeen, huh?" He said with a smile.

"Sure am." I answered.

"And never had a girl."

"Oh here we go again…" I muttered. I didn't like getting lectured about that subject.

He started talking to me about how we only get so many years in our life, and how I'm going to regret it if I don't seize the day.

"You're a good kid, Frank." He said.

Luckily, we arrived at the clinic earlier than expected. I helped grandpa out of the car, and we walked to Dr. Smith's room.

The doctor did a regular check, and sent grandpa to do a blood test. I stayed in the doctors room.

"Frank?" He asked just as I was about to leave the room to get some water.

"Yes?" I stooped.

"I need to talk to you, please sit down." I turned around, and sat on the leather seat.

Doctor Smith was our family doctor. He was nice, and young, and quite handsome. He was a good friend.

"How are you doing?" He asked me, smiling.

"I'm fine." I smiled at him. He was always good to me.

"Good. That's good." He smiled back. "Listen…" he spoke slowly, intertwining his fingers.

"You remember that blood test you took a week ago?" I nodded.

"Don't panic, we're not certain but you might just have appendicitis." I did not panic.

"Okay." I said.

"Okay." He smiled reassuringly. "Now, I'm going to have to ask you to watch for symptoms. If anything unusual happens, you go to the ER immediately. It might be very dangerous if you don't, okay?"

He raised his brows and waited for an answer.

"Sure thing." I said calmly. He took a sheet out of the drawer and handed it to me. The symptoms were listed on the sheet of paper.

"Take care." He told me.

"I will." I got up and opened the door.

"Have a good day, Frank. You're a good kid." I smiled.

"You too, Matt."

I went up, and waited for my grandfather to finish his blood taste. He came out soon enough, and we drove back home. The ride was quite.

"Are you okay, Frankie?" he asked me as we drove past the park.

"Yeah." I said, distracted.

Grandpa looked at me. I could feel his eyes on me, digging into me.

"What'd he tell you?" He asked, "Don't let him scare you."

"I'm not scared, George…" I said, rolling my eyes.

"What is it then?" He asked, his voice getting more and more croaky every time he spoke.

"It's just that…" I sighed. "I might have appendicitis and some of the symptoms are… well… a bit unsettling. That's all." I explained quietly.

"Oh, an old friend of mine had appendicitis. It's not that bad dear, the worst case scenario is having one surgery and you're okay." He tried to calm me down. Not that I was scared, or needed help or anything, but I appreciated the gesture.

"Thanks, grandpa."

And we arrived. I helped my grandpa through the door, and hugged both of my grandparents.

"You're a good kid, Frank." My grandma said.

All I did was nod, smile, wave goodbye and go back home. I still had some homework to do.

I decided to drive through the woods this time, since I needed to get home quickly. As I drove the car, I wasn't paying much attention to the road. My head was racing with thoughts, and suddenly I ran into something. I stopped the car, tires screeching.

"Shit!" I cursed, getting out of the car.

A boy was crouching in front of the car. I ran to him.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry." I started checking him for wounds, but found nothing except a cut on his lip and a little bruise on his hip.

He smiled.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about it." He looked up at me and his smile grew wider.

"You're a good kid, aren't you?"


	3. Siamese Dream

"What?!" I lingered for a moment before coming to. "I just... Oh my god I'm so sorry please let me take you to the hospital-"

"Slow down." Said the boy- I think he was about twenty, while putting the palm of his hand up in a stop motion. I stopped rambling, My heart beating out of my chest and my breathing fast and ragged.

"Oh god..." I put my hands on my knees.

"Hey, would you please just relax?" Said the boy. I glanced up at him. He looked kind of strange- not in a bad way, but something about him was a little off. He had shoulder length red hair, obviously dyed, and hazel eyes. His face was round, and his teeth were unusually small. He wasn't too short, and wasn't too tall either, although he was taller than me. But then again, most people are. Not fat, not skinny. But even though he seemed quite average in almost every aspect, there was something abnormal about him, something that I couldn't place my finger on.

"I'm fine." He opened up his arms towards the sides, then patted his body. "See? I'm good. Just chill." I got up.

"Can I please take you to the hospital? I'm so sorry." I said, a bit calmer this time.

"No need." I stood in silence for a couple of moments.

"Well at least..." I opened the passenger seat and grabbed the first aid kit out of the glove compartment. "At least let me take care of that busted lip? It will irritate my conscious forever." I raised my eyebrows.

"Okay." The guy said nonchalantly. I opened the first aid kit, took a little cotton swab and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and poured some of the liquid on the swab. I came closer to the boy, and gently put the cotton swab on the wound.

"Ah!" He groaned a little. "It stings." He said, looking me in the eyes.

"I know. But it helps." I said, dabbing some more of the solution on his lip. "And can I please put some arnicare on your bruise?" I asked him. He kind of giggled and folded his arms over his chest.

"Whatever floats your boat, I guess." He said.

"Ah, great." I said, grabbing the little tube. I lifted his shirt slightly, revealing his bruised hip. It seemed quite bad, it almost looked like a galaxy, gruesomely beautiful.

I squeezed some of the cream on my fingers and put them on his bruise, rubbing it in.

"Does it hurt?" I asked, glancing up at him.

"Nah, it's all ok. No need to worry." He said, tucking a piece of the fiery red hair behind his ear.

"Ok, ok, good. Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital?" I ask one last time, while putting the first aid kit back in place.

"Positive." He said confidently, smiling wide.

"So I'm going to drive you home at least, I'm not going to leave you in the middle of the woods after I hit you." I insisted.

"Wow you're persistent aren't you?" He asked me, genuinely surprised. "You're so different from the rest of them..." He murmured to himself.

"Them?" I questioned. He looked at me, then smiled.

"Well, if you must, I'd be happy to get a ride." He said, getting into the passenger seat. I got into the driver seat, and started driving out of the forest.

"What's the address?" I asked, eyes on the road in fear of running into something else.

"Uh, I'll just direct you. Do you mind?" He said, pointing at the CD stack on the dashboard. I shrugged.

"As you please." I said. He rummaged through the discs, all smiley and happy. He popped one into the CD player.

"Ah, yes!" He exclaimed, as the intro to Cherub Rock filled the silence. "Man! I love this band!" He was so amped, like he'd been deaf for a year before hearing the music.

"Yeah, they're great." I said.

"Take a right here." He said. "Nearly forgot how much I love music." He said, laying his head back and smiling, singing along with Billy Corgan. He suddenly stopped and looked at me.

"What do I call you?" He asked. I glanced at him for a moment, before turning my eyes back to the road.

"I'm Frank." I answered.

"Frank..." He said, emphasizing the A. "Great name. Love how it rolls off of the tongue."

"Uh, thanks. What's your name then?" I asked him

"Turn left at the traffic light." He said, turning the music down a little. "You can call me... Call me Gerard." He said, smiling. I nodded. He was such a strange guy. But I quite liked all the energy coming off of him, it gave me a high, almost.

"Oh, great, That'll do. He said as we reached a small one story house, not far from the main block of the town.

"Ok." I parked the car and went out of it along with him. "Listen, Gerard, want my phone number? For insurance and stuff?" I asked him. He looked up in confusion for a couple of seconds, then tucked a piece of hair behind his ears.

"Sure." He said, taking a mobile phone out of his back pocket. I dictated the numbers as he punched them into his phone, "Cheers." He said when I was done. He started walking towards the doorway. "Thanks for the ride!" He said and smiled wide, turning towards the door, getting closer to it.

"Oh, it's the least I could do. Feel free to call if you need something." I said. He stopped in his track and turned around.

"You know..." He said, "You're a really cool kid, Frank."

"Uh, thanks, I guess..." I said.

"It was my fault. I jumped in front of the car, don't you dare feel bad about it okay?" He asked, raising a brow.

"I'll try not to." He nodded, and gave me one last smile.

"Good night then." He turned and opened the door.

"Night." I said, and got back in the car. I kept listening to the same album Gerard had put into the CD player on the way home. It was a great album, I haven't heard it in a while.

As I got home and opened the door, my mom popped up right in front of it.

"Frankie! Where have you been for such a long time? I was worried you know." She said and pulled me in for a hug.

"Sorry ma, this guy jumped in front of the car, I was taking care of him." I told her. I don't tend to lie to my parents, I try to tell them everything.

"Oh my god, is he okay?" She asked, shocked, and let go of the hug. She looked me in the eyes.

"Yeah, just had a bruise and a little cut. He refused to go to the hospital, so I took care of the wounds and gave him a ride home." I told her, while opening the fridge to grab myself a glass of water.

"You really should be more careful driving in the dark." She lectured me. I nodded.

"I know Ma. I'm gonna go lay down for a while." She planted a kiss on my cheek as I grabbed my glass.

"Good night honey." She said as I was running up the stairs.

"Night, mom." I replied, closing the door of my room behind me. I chugged my glass of water, and collapsed on my bed.


	4. Newton's Law Of Universal Gravitation

"The force of attraction is equal to the multiplied interacting masses times the universal gravitational constant divided by the squared value of the separation of the masses. Or, by the formula;

F=m1m2G\r^2." Frank smiled and sat back down.

"Very, very good, Frank. As always." Mr. Edwards smiled at him proudly, giving him a slight wink. Physics teachers always favored Frank: He was hard working, and very passionate about the subject. Frank was Mr. Edwards' favorite, and Mr. Edwards' was Frank's favorite teacher. He was in his mid thirties, quite a tall guy, always dressed to kill; wearing a stylish waistcoat paired with tailored pants. He was a proud Irishman with a thick accent. He had extremely light ginger hair and a ginger beard, and always carried a little briefcase with him whenever he went around the school, getting looks from every one of the teenage girls that fancied him.

Frank liked Mr. Edwards a lot, and was at the top of his class. The bell rang, knocking Frank out of his thoughts.

"Hold it! Page seventy three, I want you guys to do the first three exercises. It's graded, so don't expect to get out of this one." Said Mr. Edwards, pointing at his eyes while doing so, getting the class to giggle. Students started to spill out of the classroom quickly.

"Hey, Frank, come here for a second." Mr. Edwards looked at me.

"Sure", I said, waiting for everyone to leave.

"Come here, grab a seat." Mr. Edwards gestured to the chair in front of his desk. I sat down in front of him.

"So... What's up?" I questioned him, half expecting to be in trouble even though I never got into trouble.

"Everything alright? You don't look so great." He said, sitting down himself, crossing his fingers.

"Gee, thanks." I rolled my eyes a little, earning a small smile from Mr. Edwards. "Just didn't get much sleep tonight, I guess." I said, shrugging.

"Anything happen?" He asked. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't want to lie to my favorite teacher, but I didn't want to come off as a bad person.

"I kind of hit a guy with my car last night. He seemed to be fine, I wanted to take him to the hospital but he refused so I gave him a ride home. It made me feel a little sick. I hate hurting people." I confessed, scratching my head. Mr. Edwards nodded.

"Be careful when you're driving." He said, raising his eyebrows at me. I nodded. "It's okay, it happens. Just be more careful in the future." I nodded again.

"I know. I should pay more attention." I said, sighing.

"Anyway, Frank," He said, fumbling around in his briefcase, taking a little brochure out of it. He handed it to me.

"I'd like you to participate in the astronomy tournament. If you want, of course. You're my best student." I inspected the little brochure. The competition is going to be in New York City, a fair amount of the Northeast states participating. I don't usually like parading my talents around for everyone to see, but Mr. Edwards was looking at me pleadingly, and I was probably the best participant they can get out of the class. So I nodded.

"I'll do it." I said, and Mr. Edwards smiled at me, all wide and happy.

"Great, you're a savior!" He said, "Ok, torture is over, you can go now." I laughed a little and got up.

"Always a pleasure, Mr. Edwards." I said on my way to the door, grabbing my backpack off the floor.

"You can call me Richey when there's no one else around." He said and I nodded.

With my hand on the doorknob, I heard him call me again.

"Oh, and Frank," I turned back, keeping my hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah?" I said. He got up and started putting his belongings back in the briefcase.

"If you ever need to talk or something... You know where I am. You're a good kid." He told me, a serious look on his face.

"Thanks, I really appreciate that." I said and opened the door. "Have a good day!" I said as I went out of the classroom.

"You too." He said back to me, and I made my way down the hallway and to the yard. I liked eating my lunch outside, when the weather is nice, that is, I couldn't stand eating outside in the summer. But with the nice November autumn chill, There wasn't any place I'd rather be.

I ate alone, usually. Not that it bothered me, I liked being alone. People my age didn't appeal to me most of the time. I was nice to the lot of them, and they were nice back, but to actually enjoy my time around someone, I need them to be able to provide me some mind stimulation and to be able to have an intelligent conversation. Most kids my age didn't take much interest in the things I liked, and I was completely okay with that. I like my own company.

I went out of the large glass door, breathing the crisp air and smiling to myself. Too bad autumn is so short.

I sat at a lonely table under a maple tree covered in red leaves, and bit at the sandwich my mom made me while reading the note she wrote on the paper bag.

'Have a great day! Love, mom.' I smiled. My mom was the absolute best, that's for sure.

Nothing special happened the rest of the day- I had a math test which I did perfectly, literature class, in which we read one of my favorite books, and two hours of Latin, which was one of my favorite languages.

I liked school. No, I loved school. I hated being a senior- I didn't want my high school experience to end just yet.

On my way home I was deep in though, clenching the straps of my backpack, reciting every astronomy formula I knew in my head, smiling proudly. I know I'm smart. I don't like bragging, at all, but you can't exactly say I was making a big effort to hide it. I'm probably going to be within the top three winners in the tournament. I wanted to make Mr. Edwards proud. I was reciting Newton's law of universal gravitation, as I heard someone call my name.

"Hey, Frank!" The voice knocked me out of my thoughts. I glanced behind my shoulder- the unmistakable mop of fiery red hair moving all over in the wind as he ran towards me.

"Hey." I said as he was catching his breath when he reached me. I was quite surprised- I didn't expect to see him again, not so soon at least.

"I was calling you for about two minutes straight, didn't you notice?" He asked, talking out of one side of his mouth. The other side had a cut on it, one that I caused. Looking at it made me wince.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just really deep in thought." I said. "What are you doing here?" I asked him, calculating the probability of seeing him here based on the distance from his house and the amount of essential places in the area like shops and offices. It was quite far from his house, and there were no shops or work places in the area. There were no bus stations here, either. It was similar to Newton's law of universal gravitation- F would be the likelihood of me seeing him, m1 would be me, m2 would be him, G would be how useful the area would be to the average human in town, and r would be the distance from his house. Doesn't make much sense for him to hang around here. What would he be doing here?

"I was just getting familiar with the city. I'm new here." He said.

"I see." I said. I didn't really know what to say to him. I hit him with my car and he was being so nice to me.

"So... You go to school here I assume?" He asked and I nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah, I go to McGregor's." I told him, inspecting his movements. He was a strange guy.

"So what are you, like seventeen? eighteen?" He asked me, probably trying to be friendly, but coming off quite strange. I didn't mind.

"Yeah, just turned seventeen." I made little notes about him in my head- the way he only spoke out of one side of his mouth, the way he was touching his hair, the weird pose he decided to take. I liked inspecting people.

He was wearing a black shirt, dark blue jeans and a moto jacket. He had big, wide opened eyes, hazel, and he was extremely pale- paler than me. He had a little stubble growing on his face, and a sharp pointy nose.

"You look older." He mentioned. I took it as a compliment, usually people assumed I was younger than what I am because of my height.

"Thanks, I guess. I assume you're done with school?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I'm twenty." He said. I tried to stay quiet, but I couldn't help it and the words started flowing out of me.

"Listen, I just- I'm really sorry about yesterday it's just, you know your lip, I'm really sorry I just feel so horrible about it..." I rambled out.

"Hey." He said sharply. "Don't mind it. I'm okay, just forget about it. My fault, not yours."

"Okay..." I said. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you though? For my sake." I asked, hopeful, desperate to clear my conscience.

"How about you give me a little tour of the city, and we'll be even?" He offered, and I nodded.

"Yeah, sure." That sounded like a nice idea. I wouldn't usually go hanging around town with strangers, but I felt like I owe him at least that.

"Ok so let's go. Take me to the coolest places you know." He said, and we started walking.

I took him to the old stadium, the city university, I showed him the main block and the skate park.

He liked talking, I could tell. He was always making conversation, asking questions. He had a great taste in music- he liked pretty much whatever I liked. He played piano and composed his own pieces, and was an amateur artist. He lived alone.

"So where'd you live before you moved here?" I asked him.

"Oh, very, very far..." He said.

"Far, like, Florida, or far like Italy?" I questioned further, while he bumped my shoulder with his.

"What is it to you?" He asked with a smile.

"Nothing, just curious. Why do you have to act all mysterious about it?" He shrugged.

"I dunno. Makes me feel cool." He said, and I laughed at how pathetic that sounded.

"Come on, I have one last place to show you." I wanted to show him my favorite record store, since he loves music so much. I was sure he'd have the time of his life there.

And, of course, I was right. The moment we walked through the door, he stopped in his step and gasped.

"Did I nail it?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and smiling.

"Spot on." He responded, running off, picking about 5 Bowie albums. "I just got a new audio system for my house." He mentioned as he ran off to grab a couple of Smiths albums. "Can't wait to try it out with these." He was so excited, running from side to side, eyes sparkling. I was quite amused, to be honest.

"Yo Iero!" I heard the seller call out. I was very familiar with him, as I visited the store a lot. He was a nice guy.

"What's going on, Max?" I walked over to him, resting my arm on the counter.

"What have you got there?" He asked, pointing at Gerard. "Looks like an alien hearing music for the first time." I laughed. Max was a funny guy. He was twenty three, average height and a little heavy.

"Yeah he's a strange fella..." I said, shaking my head, looking as Gerard put half of the entire store in his cart.

"Where'd he come from, anyway?" Max asked. I shrugged.

"I sorta hit him with my car and he stuck around, I guess. He's cool though." Max gave me a harsh look.

"Did you damage his brain or something?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Don't be mean, he's just excited." I said sternly.

"Seriously, you didn't hurt him though, did you?" Max asked me.

"Nah." I said. "That cut on his lip seems to be the worst of it, he didn't want to go to the ER." Max nodded. Gerard came along and put his cart on the counter. Max smiled at him, and started scanning the bottom of every item.

"So I hear Iero here gave you a beating?" Max asked him, obviously joking.

"No, he didn't." Gerard looked surprised. Max's subtle sarcasm is not hard to pick up on for most people.

"I was joking, buddy. I'm Max, nice to meet you. Any friend of Iero is a friend of mine." Max said as Gerard handed him his Visa.

"Nice to meet you too. Gerard." Gerard smiled at Max, then turned to face me. "Iero is you last name?" He asked and I nodded.

"What's yours, then?" I asked him, helping the guys put all the discs in a bag.

"Way." He responded, quick and sharp. I liked his name. I smiled and waved at Max.

"Bye, Iero. Bye, way." Max said as we were walking out the door.

"Bye." We both said in unison, and made our way back home. I insisted on walking him home, considering the circumstances. This day was really nice. I may not like most people, but something was different about Gerard. I really enjoyed his company. I'm glad I ran into him.

We reached his house in the middle of a heated argument about Silver Surfer.

"I'm telling you, you can't get any better than the first one." I said, as we stopped in front of his yard.

"Alright, Alright, whatever you say." We both laughed a little. "Well, Frank Iero, thank you for today. It really was a pleasure."

"Yeah, for me, too." I said, smiling.

"Hey, uh... I have your phone number; it's only fair that you'll have mine too..." He said. I didn't mind. I liked communicating with him. I fished the phone out of my back pocket and let him type his number in. He smiled as he handed it back to me, and I smiled back.

"See you whenever, I guess. Thanks again." He said, as he started making his way to the door.

"Sorry, again." I said and he shook his head.

"You have to stop apologizing so much." I stood in place, and with every step Gerard took towards his doorway, the formulas were flooding my head again.

"You drowning in your thoughts again?" He asked, knocking me out of my trans. I nodded. "Well, what are you thinking about?"

"Newton's law of universal gravitation."

A wide smile spread over his face.


	5. Kepler-186f

It's been a couple of weeks since I hit Gerard with my car. Gerard turned out to be quite an astronomy geek himself; the other day when I mentioned Newton's law of universal gravitation, his response was to recite the formula. And my response was, of course, to smile all wide and giddy like the huge nerd I am.

Gerard actually called me a couple of times last week, and we had long conversations- from music, to physics, to movies, talking so openly and easily about anything that we had in common, which turned out to be a lot. He didn't seem to have a reason for calling, except for just talking to me, like a normal communicating social human being.

I started to really like Gerard. I don't usually connect with people my age, but Gerard, even though he was just twenty, had such an intellect that I couldn't help feeling drawn to and all I wanted to do is listen to him recite every formula he knows, and every theory he has.

The way he talked was so special for such a young person, and it sounded so familiar. I spent hours thinking about it, asking myself who it is that he reminds me of.

And then I got it. He spoke in the same manner that Mr. Edwards did, and Mr. Edwards was my favorite person to listen to. I guess now that title had another contestant.

Gerard hasn't called me since last week and I didn't call him either. I was pretty busy actually- studying for the astronomy competition. Not that I severely needed to study, but I did anyway. To make Mr. Edwards proud.

Every day after school, I went to Mr. Edwards' office and we'd go over the material, which, for me, was very fun. I like it when people can properly appreciate me for what I am.

Today was Saturday, and I spent most of the day in my room, on my belly, with a textbook opened in front of me and a pencil between my teeth. I liked studying by myself nearly as much as I enjoyed studying with Mr. Edwards.

But at about 6 pm, I decided that I studied enough for the day. I closed my textbook and got off of my bed, slipping into my oversized grey hoodie. It must be cold outside.

I quickly ran down the stairs, to meet my mom's face at the bottom of them.

"Frank, what did I tell you about running down the stairs?" She asked me sternly. I know she hates it when I do that, but I can't help forgetting from time to time.

"It's dangerous, I know, I'm sorry mom." I kissed her on the cheek.

"Be careful, okay baby?" She asked and I nodded as I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge.

I drink milk by the carton. It helps me feel awake, and even though I'm not a little kid anymore, I can honestly say that milk is my drink of choice. We usually buy about six cartons of milk every time we go shopping, because I end up drinking nearly everything all the time.

My dad was sitting at the kitchen table, as he usually does, reading a book with his old brown reading glass.

"How's your studying going, Frank?" He asked me, not tearing his eyes from the book.

"Great, how else could it go, it's me, remember?" I said, as I unscrewed the cap of the milk carton. My dad let out a chuckle and took off his glasses. I took a large sip of the cold milk, and wiped my mouth with my sleeve. My dad got up and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Keep up the good work, eh?" He told me, and I nodded with a mouthful of milk.

"Do you mind if I borrow your laptop? I wanna do some stargazing." I asked him.

"Sure kiddo." He said and ruffled my hair. I tore away from him laughing.

"Dad I think twelve is when they usually draw the line on doing that." I mentioned, as I reached for my dads laptop case and put it on my shoulders.

"You wish." He said with a smile, putting his glasses on and sitting back down, opening the book once again.

I took my telescope out of the cupboard under the stairway. It was quite heavy, but I could use some lifting. The moment I stepped out the door and into the front yard, I felt the cold air. The weather was definitely getting colder, just like I liked it.

I took the laptop out of the case, and put it on the little table we keep in the yard, now that I have a telescope. I set up the telescope and connected it to the laptop and then, I started exploring. I don't usually go for the big stars, or the most shiny ones. That's not how you find out something that you didn't already know. I liked zooming in as much as my telescope let me, and clicking on the farthest star, letting the internet tell me about it. The distance, the size, weather there's an atmosphere, and weather life is possible there. I liked researching and memorizing all the stars I found, and in my head, trying to calculate the force of attraction if it's a planet in a star's orbit. I couldn't most of the time, obviously, how could anyone just know how much 1,235,560,894 squared is, right?

Still, it was nice to pretend I can calculate it. About half an hour in, I was looking at Beta Monocerotis, in the constellation Monoceros, about seven hundred light years away from earth, when I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Frank!" I turned my head to see Gerard waving at me from across the street.

"Hey, what's up? What are you doing here?" I straightened up as Gerard was making his way over.

"Was taking a walk, and saw you. Decided to say hello." He stopped at the fence of the front yard.

"Oh that's nice, I guess." I noticed how rude I was being, and freaked out a little "Oh! Come in, come in." I said, as I opened the little gate on the fence and Gerard came in. He took a look at the telescope.

"Wow, what a beauty!" He gestured to it. "Do you mind?" He asked and I shrugged.

"As you please." I said, and he made his way towards the laptop.

"Beta Monocerotis isn't it?" He asked, glancing at me while crouching in front of my laptop.

"Yeah, it is, in fact, how did you know?" I asked, genuinely surprised. He must have a heck of a memory. He giggled a little.

"I know my stars, Frank." He said matter-of-fact-ly, as he turned his gaze back to the computer screen. "So this is what Frank Iero does on a Saturday night?" He asked, kind of mocking me.

"Hey, screw you, you take a walk on a Saturday night, that's not any better." I fired back at him and he smiled, red locks falling over his face. He kept his eyes on the computer screen, typing something.

"Didn't say I didn't like your idea of a Saturday night, probably a hundred times better than what most teenagers would consider a Saturday night." He said and got up.

"Come here, check this out." He said, and I got closer. "That's Kepler-186f. Know it?" He asked and I shook my head. "Very similar to earth in size. It's atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium, but might potentially contain oxygen and nitrogen, and it probably has liquid water on it's surface. You know what that means?" he looked at me, blowing the long red bangs that fell over his eyes.

"That makes it potentially inhabitable for intelligent life forms like homo sapiens?" I asked, not sure if that was the answer he was looking for, but he smiled at me.

"Exactly." He said. "Do you believe in extra terrestrial beings, Frank?" I nodded.

"Absolutely, there's not a doubt in my mind." I said confidently. "Why would life forms develop on Earth but wouldn't on a planet that has nearly the exact same characteristics? That makes no sense." I explained, clearly proud of myself.

"You're a pretty smart kid you know?" Gerard said, smiling at me.

"Who are you to call me a kid, you're only twenty." I said as I picked up my carton of milk and took large sip.

"And still, I'm not the one drinking milk by the gallon." He looked at me, clearly amused.

"Shut up." I nudged his shoulder. "So what have you been up to?" I asked him, taking another sip from my milk, leaning my hip against the table.

"Oh, nothing much. Found a job, I guess." He crossed his arms over his chest and blew the bangs out of his face, which I inevitably thought was extremely cute.

"Oh cool, which job?" I asked, looking at him as he grinned proudly.

"Theoretical physicist." He answered, puffing his chest out.

"What, wait, aren't you twenty?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. But I graduated high school when I was thirteen and went to university when I was fourteen. I have a PhD in physics." He explained, clearly not trying to be modest.

"Oh..." I said. I can't deny that I was a little jealous. And a little shocked, to be honest. The guy graduated high school when he was thirteen? I wish I had the opportunity to do the same. "So, where do you work, then?"

"Oh, the research department in Columbia University." He shrugged as if it was nothing. Columbia University is very prestigious, I know that much.

"Wait, wait... So you're, like, 'Dr. Way'?" I asked holding back laughter.

"Yup." I burst out laughing.

"Dude, you're such an old twenty year old!" Gerard smiled at that remark.

"At least I'm doing something with my life besides getting drunk at a college dorm party." He worked his fingers through his red hair.

"Wait, so you go to New York City every day? That must be exhausting..." I said, thinking of how he probably has to ride the train every day to each direction.

"Nah, I like riding trains, it's a very nice way to start the day in my opinion." He said looking down at his feet and smiling behind his bangs.

"Frank- oh." My mom was standing at the doorway, inspecting Gerard. "Didn't know you had company." She said. A few moments of silence followed. "So who's the young man?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed, cursing myself for my rudeness. "That's Gerard mom, he's a friend of mine, he was nearby." Gerard smiled and walked over to my mom, extending his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Iero." They shook hands and my mom smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you too. Well, if you boys are hungry, I'm serving dinner in twenty minutes."

"Ok, thanks mom." I smiled at my mom as she entered the house again. Gerard made his way back towards me.

"She's nice." He mentioned, still smiling.

"Yeah I know, my mom's the best." I noticed my stomach was rumbling. I should probably go eat.

"Well, listen, I gotta head home, but wanna hang out on Tuesday?" He asked, putting his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"Sure, I'll pick you up at six?" I asked, and he smiled.

"Great. See ya, Frank." He nudged my shoulder and went out of the gate, closing it behind him.

"See ya." I waved at him, and packed up my telescope.


	6. Tell Me A Picture, Draw Me A Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is totally into Teacher Richey?! 10 points and a dedication to whoever can tell me which Fall Out Boy song references Richey Edwards ;) Hope you're all having a great day!

I've been spending almost all my time studying, and when I wasn't I kept thinking about Tuesday- running different scenarios through my head. I couldn't help it.

I figured that it was the excitement of having a friend that leeched on to me and wouldn't let go.

It was Monday evening, and I was seated on my bed, guitar in hand, trying to pick up some Bowie, but instead finding my mind was wandering off to Gerard's face. He was so odd, yet so exactly right. He knew so much about everything, and he left me baffled every time he dared to show a tiny dab of his intellect.

"Dinner's ready, honey!" My mom called from downstairs, and so, I gave out a sigh and put my beloved acoustic on the bed, jumping to my feet and making my way downstairs.

My family didn't have dinner together every day, but about twice a week, my mom would plan a proper family dinner which we had to attend. I never liked the formality of it- but once we all get seated and start eating, all the formality goes straight out the window.

I sat down, me and my dad said our thanks and we started eating, conversation bubbling.

"So, Frankie," My mom said, "Who was that young man I didn't have the pleasure to meet on Saturday?" I nearly choked on my potatoes.

"I introduced you, you got to meet him." I said, as I kept sawing into my food.

"Well, I want to know more about him."

"His name's Gerard. He's 20. He moved here not too long ago, and he has a PhD in physics and works for ColumbiaUniversity."

"You're not joking, I suppose?" She asked me, a smile on her face, my dad listening to the conversation intently.

"I'm serious. He graduated high school when he was 13, and went straight to uni." I explained.

"Wow, he's giving you a run for your money." My dad said, which made me smile and give out a small laugh.

"So, how did you meet him?" my mom kept inquiring.

"Oh um..." I said, clearing my throat. "He's the one I hit with my car." I said, playing around with the food in my plate, feeling a little uneasy for not mentioning it to my parents earlier.

"Oh..." My mom said.

"Mom, don't give me that face, I promise I'll be more careful, okay?" I practically swallowed my food, not even noticing how hungry I was. As soon as I was done, I cleared the dishes off the table, and started washing them.

"Oh, honey, that's okay, you don't have to wash everyone's-"

"It's okay, mom. Go rest." I said, and she planted a kiss on my cheek and went away.

"Frankie." My dad said, "After you finish up, please go and help your grandfather sort out his office, alright?" He asked, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Sure." I said, and he ruffled my hair and made his hair towards the living room.

"Thank you. And try not to hit any boys on the way." He said.

"Jesus, dad!" I heard him laughing.

As I finished washing the dishes, I made my way to the grandparents place, and was greeted with a kiss and a cookie from my grandma. I made my to my grandpas office, and was welcomed with a big tired smile, we started working on the office, finding a lot of my grandpas old prescriptions that we were looking for for so long while we're at it. I couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow, about getting out of school and getting to see Gerard again.

"What's on your mind, kiddo?" Grandpa asked me, noticing that I'm clearly distracted.

"Oh, I just, you know, the contest thing..." I said, "I'm reciting the material in my head." I quickly wrapped up an excuse.

"Well," My grandpa said, "I think your head could use a little rest." He gave me a warm smile, which always made me smile back.

"Yeah, I guess it could." I chuckled. My grandpa always had this way of making me feel better, and I felt like I owed him so much. It would be wrong to keep things from him.

"George?" I said, looking down at my hands, fumbling with all the papers.

"Yes, Frankie?" He asked, looking straight at me.

"I made a friend, you know."

"Really?" He asked not sounding quite surprised.

"Yeah." I said, smiling to myself. "He actually jumped in front of my car a couple weeks ago and we got on pretty well. He's a physicist." I told him, unable to hold my excitement in.

"Well that's great. I'm glad for you." He said, and the rest of the evening we kept pretty much silent. It didn't take too much to sort out the office, but I was sure as hell tired by the time I had to go home.

"Thank you for the help, honey." My grandma kissed my cheek, pushing a tupperware filled with cookies into my hands.

"Save some for that friend of yours huh?" My grandpa chimed in.

"What friend?" My grandma asked me. I smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

"Grandpa will tell you." I said simply, and said my good nights before heading home, nearly falling asleep on the wheel.

As soon as I got home, I kicked my jeans off and jumped into bed, quickly drifting into a deep sleep.

The next morning I woke up full of energy, in a way I haven't felt for a long time. I practically jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth so thoroughly I may have skinned them, and ate my cereal with a smile on my face.

As I started walking towards my school I made sure to greet everyone on the way, and made my straight to Mr. Edwards office. I knocked on the door lightly three times.

"Come in," He said, and I opened the door, smiling at him, and then going into complete shock. He shaved his beard off completely, and his hair was dyed dark brown. I slowly closed the door behind me.

"Woah." I said, unable to stop myself. He didn't seem to mind though, he just smiled at me.

"Different, innit?" He said, and I nodded in agreement. He looked so different, like a completely different person. To his credit, though, without the beard his face was more visible, and he was quite a handsome man. His hair wasn't slick back like before either, it was instead naturally laid on his head, just a tiny bit messy. He looked really good.

"So what... why...?" I said, gesturing at him, trying really hard not to come off rude.

"I needed change." He said simply. "So how are you?" He asked. "You seem like you're having a good day." He said, making me smile.

"I am." I said, "Actually, Mr.-"

"Richey." He cut me off. "Call me Richey, ok?" I kept forgetting. I never understood why it was so important to him that I call him by his first name, but I complied.

"Well, Richey," I said, fumbling in my schoolbag and pulling out the Tupperware. "I brought you some cookies." I said, opening the Tupperware. He of course, took a cookie politely and bit it.

"Thank you, Frank." He said, "It's delicious, really is. Now, tell me why you really came to my office so early in the morning." He said, smiling, making my face turn red.

"Well, I was wondering, you have some connections at Columbia, don't you?" He nodded, taking another bite, looking at me curiously.

"You know the physicists who work there?" I questioned furthermore.

"Yeah, I do." He said.

"There's this guy named Gerard, red hair, always in a leather jacket, about twenty years old who works there. I was wondering if you might know him." I explained, and a reminiscent smile crept onto his face.

"Yeah, I know him. I didn't know he worked for Columbia, though, wouldn't be surprised if he did. The boy's brilliant." He said, as he got up and started searching for something in his drawers.

"Wait, so where do you know him from?" I asked, confused.

"We go way back." He said. "Where do you know him from?" He asked me back and I scratched the back of my head.

"He's the guy I hit with my car." I got really tired of saying that sentence, it made me feel so guilty every time I remembered it. "We're kind of friends now, I guess."

"Wow." Richey said, quite surprised, "I didn't even know he was back in the area." He sounded a little disappointed, "Didn't even give me a call, the old Wally." He said, and I nearly exploded.

"Wally?" I asked, uncontrollably giggling.

"Hey, never make fun of an Irishman." He pointed his finger at me, then exclaimed "Aha!" As he seemed to find whatever it was he was looking for. He presented me with a Polaroid picture. It was Him and Gerard.

Gerard was smiling, his arm around Richey's shoulders. Richey wasn't smiling. Gerard looked the same as he did now- red hair, same leather jacket. Richey didn't seem like the bearded ginger I knew, He looked more like he did today, shaved clean, and his hair was quite long and messy. His eyes were completely covered in black eyeliner, and he was wearing a green shirt, embedded with the words "There is no choice". He seemed really different, younger and not quite like a physics teacher, but more like a confused young adult. The picture seemed old to me, but it couldn't have been more than four years old, I assessed, considering Gerard is only twenty years old and doesn't look much younger in the picture.

"Richey, you look like a freaking 90's rock star in here, when was this?" I asked, quite surprised.

"Two and a half years ago, in fact. It was a costume party, but of course, Gerard couldn't be bothered." He was smiling. "Really nice guy. Good friend. Hold on to him okay? And tell him Richey says hi next time you see him." I nodded. I didn't actually think Richey would know who Gerard was, but apparently, he knows him much better then I do. I concluded that I'd get the rest of the story from Gerard. The bell rang, and Richey started making shoo gestures with his hands, making me laugh.

"Go on, get on to class, out you go." I got up, and put the Tupperware back in my bag while making my way toward the door.

"Thanks for your time, Richey." I smiled at him.

"No need to thank me for that, you're always invited. See you in a couple of hours in class eh?"

"Sure will." I said, and made my way to math class.

The day passed pretty quickly. I enjoyed my lessons, but by the time I was sitting in Latin class, I was basically counting the seconds until the bell rang, excited to go home and get ready.

"Frank, are you with us?" The teacher, Miss Daws asked me. My eyes snapped to her and I nodded. "Read the next line and translate it."

"Home sum humani a me nihil alienum puto." I read perfectly. "I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me." It was pretty straight forward, basic material.

"Very good." She said, and as if on cue, the bell rang.

"I quickly collected my books and made my way home, deeply breathing the cold November air. It was getting colder every day, and I loved it- that stinging in your lungs when you breathe really cold air.

As soon as I got home, I jumped in the shower, and made sure to scrub my entire body, and wash my face really well.

I dried myself thoroughly, and then put on some deodorant.

Next, I was standing in front of my closet in my underwear, pondering what to wear. I settled on a pair of light blue jeans, and a grey sweater. In front of the mirror, I brushed my hair and then ruffled it a little with my fingers, trying to get that perfect out of bed look.

I inspected myself and decided that I didn't look half bad, which was a pretty rare occurrence considering I didn't pay much attention to my looks most of the time.

When I thought about it, though, I couldn't wrap my head around why I was getting so excited. After all, it was just a get together with a friend. Concluding that I'm probably way more socially awkward than I initially thought, I went downstairs and grabbed myself a glass of milk, but couldn't go back to my room without being bombarded with kiss from my mom, telling me I'm such a handsome young man.

As I got upstairs, I put on a pair of black chucks and decided to take my guitar with me as well, because you never know when you'll need a trusty weapon.

Saying goodbye to my parents, I made my way to the car and just sat for a couple of minutes, trying to bring down my accelerating pulse. I didn't even know what I was getting so worked up over, but eventually, I started the car and drove over to Gerard's, making sure to not go through the forest. When I stopped at a red light, I popped a strokes album in the CD player.

Soon enough, I was parking just outside of Gerard's house, texting him to come out, and he did exactly a moment later, as if he was waiting by the door.

He was wearing his usual leather jacket, his hair was a total mess, and he was smiling wide at me, and so was I.

"Hey." He said as he climbed into the car. "Oh, I love this album!" His enthusiasm made me laugh as I did my best to keep my pulse down.

"That's good. So, where to?" I asked him, and he grinned at me.

"I know exactly where we're going." He said, "I'll direct you."

We drove for about five minutes, past the train station and into the large open space, kind of a field, I thought, through which the train tracks pass.

"Just park somewhere round here, would you?" He asked, and I nodded, parking next to a large bush. It being winter, it was already pitch black outside. Gerard got out of the car, and ran over to my door, opening it enthusiastically.

"Well, come on!" He was pulling on my arm, making me chuckle.

"Okay, okay!" I got out and locked the vehicle. He started running pulling me along with him.

"Oi, you don't have to rip my arm off." I said, and he just pulled harder, running faster like a bomb of adrenaline. We were running towards the train tracks, heading towards the little fluorescent lit tunnel under the tracks.

We stopped there, me catching my breath, and Gerard looking like he's used to running around all the time.

"You like trains then, I take it?" I asked him, breathing heavily. He chuckled.

"You've got to get in shape, Iero. If a bear ever comes after you you're doomed."

"Yeah, yeah I know. What's the point of us being here then?" I asked, observing the place.

"I like it here." Gerard said simply, shrugging. "Come." He said, and started heading out of the tunnel. He then got on the tracks and sat down.

"Dude, what are you doing, get off of there?" He was smiling at me.

"Why?" I already got used to Gerard being a little giddy and a little crazy all the time, but that was definitely not the place to be fooling around.

"Because, jesus, what if a fucking train comes?" I said matter of factly.

"Come here." He said, gesturing to a spot beside him.

"No!" I objected, crossing my arms over my chest. "You come here!" All he did was laugh, the asshole.

"You have to learn to take some risks, Frank, or else you'll never have fun."

"I have my fun in safer ways." He was smiling, getting up to his feet, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. As he reached me he stretched his arm out.

"Take my hand." He said.

"No!"

"Alright then." He grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the tracks, me trying to break free but he was much stronger than me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I was freaking out, as we stepped over the tracks, and he held me by the shoulders, still smiling.

"These tracks aren't active. You can relax, grandma." He pointed towards another line of train tracks, ones that were much newer, not rusty and grown over.

"Jesus." I said, as I sat down on the tracks. "You're insane."

"Yeah, I know." He sat beside me. "Sorry." A short silence followed, I didn't really know what to say.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Richey says hi." Gerard looked at me for a couple of moments, seemingly confused, but then a knowing look crept onto his face.

"Richey Edwards?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah! That's him!" Gerard was staring off into the distance, probably flooded with memories.

"He's a very dear friend of mine." He said finally, "Wait, where'd you even meet him?"

"He's my physics teacher." I said simply, and Gerard seemed completely shocked.

"The guy's a teacher now?" He asked in disbelief. "Man, he must have changed a lot since I last saw him. "

"Why, what was he when you knew him?" I asked, and Gerard smiled reminiscently.

"He wasn't all that much at all." He said simply.

"What do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"He had an amazing mind, but he was a very confused, troubled man. I respect his privacy so I'm not going to go into specifics, but he wasn't any more content in life than you probably were as a ten year old." Gerard was talking as though decades had passed.

"How long have you not seen him?" I asked.

"A long while. Didn't see him since I moved away from this place." He said, and I nodded. It was getting really cold, and I was shivering, my teeth grinding.

"Are you cold?" Gerard asked me, and I shook my head no. He laughed.

"Liar. Come on, let's just go hang at my place." And so, we got into the car and drove over to Gerard's place, listening to some bowie on the way, Gerard chanting the words to Starman as if his life depended on it.

His house wasn't too big, nor too small, it was a one story house with a living room, two rooms and a kitchen. It was nice, I decided, as he gave me a small tour. He had the most amazing record collection, including every single album I cherish, and a collection of movies in BluRay, and a large library.

"I seriously love this place." I said, brushing the records with my fingertips.

"I'll make us some hot cocoa. And Frank," I looked at him, and he threw a pair of black sweatpants in my direction, and I caught them. "Get changed. Only comfortable clothes are allowed at my place. No jeans." And I noticed that he, too, was wearing a pair of sweatpants, and that the staple piece leather jacket was replaced by a big hoodie.

He made his way to the kitchen, and I swapped my jeans for the sweatpants, which were in fact very comfortable, though I still felt weird about wearing Gerard's pants.

He had an average sized flatscreen TV, connected to a Home Cinema computer which I could appreciate, I never liked TV.

Within a couple of minutes, Gerard marched back to the living room with two mugs.

"Marshmallows ok?" He asked and I nodded, inching over to the end of the couch so that Gerard can sit down too.

"Yeah, sure." He handed me a mug embedded with the Hogwarts symbol, as he took a sip of his Kick-Ass mug.

"You're totally the type to have a mug collection aren't you?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sure am, Iero. Sure am." He said with a completely serious look on his face. "Wanna watch a movie or something?" He asked and I nodded.

We proceeded to browse his BluRay collection for about ten minutes. Every title he owned was a masterpiece, and it was quite difficult to choose. Gerard laughed at every remark I made, brushing hair out of his face In the cutest way possible, holding his mug with two hands while sipping his cocoa, and really, I could make an entire book of describing the way he does everything that he does so elegantly.

We finally settled on Watching The Prestige, which is a movie I probably watched about fifty times already, but it just never gets old.

I really did want to watch the movie but I was so tired, more tired than I realized. Probably from studying all the time, or thinking all the time, or thinking about Gerard all the time. And just like that, I fell asleep on Gerard's shoulder, intoxicated by his smell, strands of his hair tickling my cheek.

Somewhere between reality and dream I thought I felt him cover me with a blanket, and maybe put his arm around me.

Although that could have easily been a dream.


End file.
